Yorkstone provides finishing touch for new Huddersfield University building

A total of £210,000 worth of locally-sourced Yorkstone has been delivered to construction firm Morgan Sindall as it begins to put the finishing touches to the University of Huddersfield’s new Oastler Building.

The 7,500 square metre, six-storey building is being developed in a prime campus location opposite the Shorehead roundabout between Queensgate and Wakefield Road in the town.

When complete the £27.5 million building will provide a new home for the university’s Law School and the School of Music, Humanities and Media.

It will also link into the university’s Student Central building which was completed in January 2014, at a cost of £22.5 million.

Around 166 tonnes of Yorkstone has arrived from Johnsons Wellfield Quarries in Huddersfield which was established as a local company in 1854.

It has supplied Yorkstone around the world, paving and cladding some of the best known buildings including: London’s South Bank promenade and Victoria & Albert Museum, Sheffield’s award-winning Winter Garden and Tudor Square and other projects at the University of Huddersfield. Yorkstone is a type of sandstone which is favoured as a building material due to its durability and beauty.

Mark Heginbotham, project director from Morgan Sindall, said: “Yorkstone is a fantastic material to work with.

“It adds a distinctive quality to the building which is one of grandeur, solidity and tradition. But here, it is not being used to create a traditional style building. The Oastler building is bold and modern and with its blend of traditional and modern materials.”

Work on the new Oastler Building is expected to be completed by early 2017.